


Hot In The Kitchen

by axiumin



Category: EXO (Band)
Genre: F/M, Fluff, Gender-neutral Reader, M/M, Multi, Mutual Pining, POV Second Person, Pining, Reader-Insert, Reader-Interactive
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2019-01-29
Updated: 2019-01-29
Packaged: 2019-10-18 16:49:55
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,522
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/17584610
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/axiumin/pseuds/axiumin
Summary: You were a terrible cook and a pining mess. Fortunately, some cooking lessons could solve both of these problems.





	Hot In The Kitchen

**Author's Note:**

> Cross-posted from tumblr. Come say hi @axiumin!

“Have you ever considered cooking as a means of seduction?”

You turned to Chanyeol, eyebrows creeping higher on your forehead, but he just took a sip of his tea, contriving to look innocent.

“You know I can’t cook to save my life. Besides, if anyone is going to be seducing anyone with cooking, wouldn’t it be him?”

Chanyeol’s reply was a shrug.

You sighed. You had known it probably wasn’t a great idea to go to Chanyeol for advice on how to get closer to Kyungsoo, but you supposed you had few enough options. Chanyeol had been the one to approach you, asking when you were going to do something about “that god-awful, obvious crush you have on him, Y/N.” And Chanyeol was close to Kyungsoo, even if it seemed like his favorite hobby was irritating the poor man.

So here you were, dealing with a Chanyeol who was having way too much fun shooting out increasingly ridiculous methods of approaching Kyungsoo.

“You know, that’s not really such a bad idea, is it?” Chanyeol asked, brightening suddenly.

“What isn’t?” Somehow, his smile was more worrying than comforting.

“Having him seduce you with cooking!”

You scoffed.

“Did you forget that I’m the one trying to get his attention here? How are we supposed to get him to seduce me when he barely even notices me?”

Chanyeol’s smile tightened into a rather mischievous smirk for just a moment before he slung an arm around your shoulders and shook you bracingly.

“Don’t you worry about that, Y/N. It’ll work out better than you expect!”

You supposed that Chanyeol was the reason why, when you come over a few days later, Kyungsoo was waiting in the kitchen with an array of mixing bowls, vegetables, and a spare apron.

“Oh, you’re here, Y/N,” he said in way of greeting. “I heard that you wanted to learn how to cook, so I thought I would have you help me make dinner.” The corners of Kyungsoo’s mouth curled up in a small smile that did interesting things to your cardiac rhythm.

“Uh,” you replied eloquently. Kyungsoo’s smile faltered.

“Of course, you don’t have to cook if you don’t want to. I know I didn’t give you any warning.”

“Oh! Uh— no!” you exclaimed, your brain jolted back into motion. “That is, I don’t mind at all! I’d love to help you!” A small part of your brain was helpfully reminding you that it wasn’t actually necessary to yell your response, but you supposed you were too intent on getting rid of the small, worried crease that had settled between Kyungsoo’s brows to really pay attention to your volume.

Either way, you guessed your mild panic was taken for enthusiasm because Kyungsoo’s smile reappeared in all of its heart-shaped glory as he offered you the extra apron.

His fingers brushed against yours when you took it, and you sighed shakily, wondering if you were ready to spend the better part of the next hour working around the small kitchen with Kyungsoo.

For his part, Kyungsoo just started to give you a run-down of the recipe and its components, oblivious to your pining.

“Let’s get started, then. We’re making spaghetti tonight,” he said, blessing you with the full force of his smile.

You weren’t sure whether to thank Chanyeol for setting up this lesson or shake him for being so meddlesome.

Fifteen minutes into the meal prep, you were already considering what kind of thank you card to get for Chanyeol.

The cooking lesson was going far better than you’d expected. The first part consisted of cleaning and preparing the vegetables. Considering there was no way you’d be able to mess this up beyond making the pieces of bell pepper just a bit uneven, you were feeling pretty relaxed. Honestly, all you had to do was make sure you didn’t space out too much listening to Kyungsoo’s calm, sweet voice that you accidentally cut off a finger.

“Now that the peppers are done, let’s work on the onion,” Kyungsoo announced. “Onions are the base for a lot of dishes, so it helps to know how to cut one properly. Here, let me show you.”

With quick, deft movements of his chef’s knife, Kyungsoo split the onion in half and expertly diced one half of the onion.

“See the way I sliced it one way and then the other? We’re going for a fine dice here, so it’s important to keep your cuts close together. Why don’t you give it a try?” You had to blink yourself out of a daydream that centered around those quick, clever fingers when he suddenly turned his gaze to you and stepped away from the cutting board in clear invitation. You nodded and moved forward to pick up the knife.

“Yeah! I can do this,” you said, conscious of Kyungsoo’s watchful gaze.

You placed your fingertips on the top of the remaining onion half and swept the knife through the onion parallel to the cutting board, just as Kyungsoo had demonstrated. You saw Kyungsoo nod encouragingly out of the corner of your eye.

“Good,” he said, leaning a bit more into your space to watch. “Now cut vertically. Keep the cuts close together.” You did as he said, careful to keep your fingers far away from the blade.

“Like this?” you asked, turning your head. Your cheeks grew warm when you saw that Kyungsoo had moved even closer. He hummed thoughtfully.

“That was good, but be careful for this next part, Y/N.”

Your breath hitched as he moved to stand right behind you, looking over your shoulder. His hands moved up to cup yours as he carefully moved your hand into position.

“See, you want to hold it like this because you’ll be moving the knife towards your fingers. If you do it this way, you won’t get cut,” he murmured near your ear.

Your heart fluttered somewhere in the vicinity of your throat. This close, you could feel Kyungsoo’s voice reverberate in his chest. The kitchen, already warm from the preheating oven, suddenly felt stifling. You couldn’t imagine how Kyungsoo wouldn’t be able to notice the way your cheeks flushed with warmth or the way your heart hammered in your chest.

But he didn’t say anything about it. He just guided your hands until he was satisfied that you got it and stepped back to let you finish the job.

The rest of dinner prep was uneventful, for better or worse. With Kyungsoo’s careful supervision, you weren’t at any risk of burning the sauce or cooking the pasta into an inedible mush. You were somewhat disappointed that Kyungsoo managed so successfully to stay out of your personal space, but even that disappointment was forgotten the moment you got to see your final product: a picture-perfect plate of spaghetti, complete with tasteful herb garnish.

The wonderful smell of basil and roasted garlic wafted up from the plate and made your mouth water. It was such a far cry from anything you’ve ever made before, and you knew that it was only thanks to Kyungsoo that you didn’t somehow manage to turn anything into ash. Still, pride swelled in your chest and you couldn’t fight off a grin.

You looked up from the spaghetti to see Kyungsoo watching you with a small smile. Your grin widened.

“We did it, Kyungsoo!” you crowed, gesturing at the plate. “It looks so good!”

“Yeah,” he replied, still smiling. “You put in a lot of work, Y/N.”

Your good mood didn’t even allow you to scoff at that. Instead, you eagerly looked around, waiting to see who else had been drawn into the kitchen by the smell of dinner.

No one was there. You stopped short and frowned, straining to listen for the usual chatter and commotion that came with a full house, but you heard nothing. With a start, you realized that the whole time you’d been over, you hadn’t heard anything but your own clattering and conversation in the kitchen.

“Kyungsoo,” you started slowly, tilting your head in confusion. “Where is everyone?”

Kyungsoo shifted his weight from foot to foot, suddenly looking nervous.

“They’re all out tonight,” he said with a shrug.

You frowned. “But what about dinner?”

If anything, he suddenly looked even more shifty.

“Well, I’d been meaning to ask you if you wanted to get dinner with me sometime. When Chanyeol mentioned that you wanted to know more about cooking, I thought that I could kill two birds with one stone. You know, teach you to cook and have dinner with you.”

It took a moment for this to process. As your gaze slowly shifted from the mess of the pots to the plate of steaming spaghetti to the small, nervous smile on Kyungsoo’s face, you decided that you were definitely going to have to do something nice for Chanyeol.

You beamed at Kyungsoo and grabbed his hand. The tense set of his shoulders relaxed as his fingers tightened around yours.

“Well, what are we waiting for?” you asked through the swell of happiness that settled in your chest. “Dinner’s ready.”


End file.
